In a heart-wrenching ordeal following the devastating fire that engulfed a residential building in Mangaf, Kuwait, on Wednesday, Pradeep, the father of 27-year-old Srihari, managed to identify his son’s body only through a distinctive tattoo on his hand. The fire tragically claimed the lives of 49 individuals, mostly foreign workers, including approximately 40 Indians, and left 50 others injured.
Pradeep recounted the harrowing experience of identifying his son’s body at a hospital mortuary, where he struggled to recognize Srihari due to severe facial swelling and soot covering his features. “When I went there, I saw that the face was completely swollen and the nose was covered with soot. I was unable to identify him. I just could not… Then I told them that he had a tattoo on his hand. Based on that, he was identified,” a grief-stricken Pradeep shared with a Malayalam news channel in Kuwait on Thursday.
Srihari, who had returned to Kuwait from Kerala just days before the tragedy struck, was employed in a supermarket while seeking opportunities in his field of study, mechanical engineering. Both father and son worked for the same company in Kuwait, where Pradeep has been employed for the past eight years.
The devastating news of Srihari’s demise reached his family in Kerala barely a week after his departure for Kuwait. A family friend conveyed, “His father informed the family as there were news reports on TV about the tragedy.”
Efforts are now underway to repatriate Srihari’s body to Kerala, with Pradeep hoping to return home promptly. However, neither the Indian Embassy in Kuwait nor the governments at the Centre and state levels have officially confirmed the identities of the deceased Indians.
The fire, which originated in the kitchen of the seven-storey building housing 195 migrant workers, erupted around 4 am local time, catching the majority of residents asleep. Thick black smoke quickly engulfed the premises, leading to the suffocation deaths of most victims, according to Kuwaiti authorities from the Interior Ministry and fire department.
Amid the tragic loss of lives, the Indian community in Kuwait mourns the loss of their compatriots and awaits further details and official confirmation regarding the victims’ identities and the circumstances surrounding the fire.
